Dry eye and ear wax

[frascina]

Itchy ears and dry eye

Does anyone suffer from excess wax and ringing in their ears? Together with dry eye especially worse in the winter?

[Linthyro]

Hi, ask to see an audiologist, tinnitus can be helped by hearing aids or further investigation.

[Hennerton]

Dry eyes could be blepharitis, which resolves by regular daily cleaning of the lids with a mild mixture of sodium bicarbonate and boiled, cooled water. Your optician will confirm if this is the case.

Itchy ears and wax respond to Audiclean sea water spray, used regularly.

Both these problems have reduced for me since I sorted out thyroid levels and started T3. Maybe you are undermedicated? If you post latest blood tests, members can advise.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Ringing in ears (tinnitus) May be connected to low B12

Very common when hypo

Vitamin D too gets much lower in winter

If you add your thyroid test results -TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus thyroid antibodies

Vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 results and ranges

[lisabax]

I have both dry eye and tinnitus. These are among the many symptoms of thyroid disease. I have learned to live with the tinnitus, and have been prescribed preservative free eye drops for the dry eye as I need to use it several times a day. I think all symptoms tend to get worse in the winter. Some say they increase their dose of thyroid medication in the winter, but I've been reluctant to try this because I can't estimate how much extra to take.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to lisabax]

Suggest you test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12

[lisabax in reply to SlowDragon]

all done regularly, all well within range and supplemented where necessary. i just accept its something i have to live with

[thyroidquest]

Also possibly Sjogrens syndrome?

[Margaret-S]

Yes Fracina I have those all the time. So annoying. Doesn't seem to be much we can do about it . Mine are like that almost the whole year round.

[izza]

I have Hashimoto's and I also I had very red bulging eyes and itching inside my ears for a few months. Also extremely itchy skin to the point that i wanted to scratch it all off and didn't sleep for weeks. Doctors were useless and did even consider a link with my thyroid problems. I now suspect that I was either going through a thyroid storm or a gluten allergy (caused by a sudden increase in bread and croissant uptake during a trip to France!). Most likely both.

I am now on NDT and on a gluten-free diet and I havn't had a problem in the past two years.

[heathermr]

I have had dry and irritated eyes for some time but they are now feeling better and the optician says that my eye condition has improved a great deal. I use Optrex Night Restore gel drops which are expensive at £10 but you only need one or two drops in each eye last thing at night so they do last a long time. During the day I use Boots Dry Eye drops usually only once or twice during the day but if my eyes are really itchy I use Opticrom hayfever eye drops in the morning which calms the itching.

Hope this helps.

Heather

[Achilles_Pain]

I had extremely itchy ear canals and dry skin while I was under medicated but once my dose was increased the itchy ears went away. At the same time the dry skin on the forehead and cheeks cleared up, too. These symptoms, plus others, all returned when I increased my dose and was over medicated, going away when I reduced my dose. Still trying to find that magic number when I neither under nor over medicated.

I have tinnitus in my right ear, but I think that's due to a sinus problem as it comes and goes as the sinus pain varies.

[humanbean in reply to Achilles_Pain]

You should look into "eustachian tube dysfunction". It may be relevant.

patient.info/health/earache...

I have this. It comes and goes, and makes my already-existing deafness much worse, as well as feeling very unpleasant.

[Achilles_Pain in reply to humanbean]

Thanks, interesting read. My right ear does feel "full", as the article describes, and my ears do pop whenever I change altitude, which is a lot when I'm doing a fell race, or even just driving over the hills to get to one.

I saw a specialist at the hospital a fortnight ago who sent me for an X-Ray. Based on that he referred me for a CT scan - I'm now awaiting the results of that and a further appointment. He said based on the X-Ray it was probably sinusitis and he'd more than likely be referring me to Ear, Nose and Throat.

[Heloise]

Castor oil is very helpful. Get the organic and rub it along the lash line. This will lubricate the little glands that keep eyes moist. Look up castor oil packs for other good uses.

[Boshus]

Excessive ear wax is one of my first physical symptoms - together with loss of body hair - when I am under-medicated. (Dry hands and difficulty focusing eyesight seem to be the next.)

[Vinnie123 in reply to Boshus]

Thank you for this . I went on a long holiday but I did not take my t3 because of going through Dubai airport because pork is banned. Hence I resorted to synthetic t4. On return my eyes are dry I have blurred vision and can't stand the light in my eyes . I have made an appointment with opticians but will now restart my pigs thyroid t3.

[DJR1]

I have had to stop wearing contact lens due to dry eye syndrome. It is well recognised by opticians as a symptom that is related to underactive thyroid. She recommended using lubricating eye drops, the basic ones from Boots are sufficient apparently so no need to buy expensive ones. She was a specsavers optician so I took this as good advice. Itchy ears canals is another issue I had but correct medications seems to improve that one too

[Snorkie]

I had dry eyes and ringing in my ears as well as vertigo from taking levothyroxine. Do you take this thyroid medicine? If u do look up side effects. Once I switched to NDT all of it stopped.

[Shazzybabes]

Hi , yes I suffer from wax in ears , But suffer from tinnitus , at first started out with a whooshes what went away , now over a 2 year period have permanent high pitched whistling/ringing in my ear with a lot of hear loss, I advise you go doctors ASAP as I left it for sometime and there IS NO cure for tinnitus ,sounds like an old telly when all 3 channels use be turned off in 1970 s , and like loud whooshing aswell, they tried amytripaline and a few more out of that family of mess , also antidepressants extra on top of these ones aswell , also had dry eyes but mine came n went all year long , they gave me eye drops and a nasal liquid congestion prescription (no idea why) but as I said it could be the start of tinnitus if it is it just gets worse, I really wish I went much sooner, Iam now getting booked into eye ear nose and throat for full testing , to see if eyes are anything do with tinnitus as back of my throats always dry , and also starting in my other ear , Hope it is not tinnitus you have , but get docs ASAP and ask be referred to a specialist ,cause the noise never go s away and your hearing is at risk, awful condition it's life changing, I can't stand it , good luck , and I suffer from under active thyroid, but can not handle the tinnitus at all arrrgh

[carolbrit]

Shazzybabes, you just described Tinnitus perfectly. Like the sound of an old telly when the programmes finished. I've had it since I was 19 and I'm 67 now. Unfortunately, it seems to have got a lot worse recently as is very loud, in both ears.

[judburke]

I used to wake up with one dry and gritty eye. The optician recommended that I massaged the eye with a warm flannel to stimulate the tear glands. However, I recently did a food allergy test that showed a problem with cows milk and hens egg yolks. I excluded them for 2 months and took a probiotic and the dryness and gritty feeling disappeared! I am back on cows milk and eggs but a much reduced intake as the retest showed my gut had healed the problem - I very rarely get the eye problem now